Coloration process

ABSTRACT

water-impregnated textiles, especially of cellulose or wool, or mixtures of cellulose and wool with synthetic fibers and synthetic textiles, such as nylon and acrylics, particularly as assembled garments, are wet-transfer printed with a transferable printing design comprising a dyestuff which is reactive with the textile by heating the impregnated textile in contact with the design while maintained in a water-impervious enclosure comprising a polyester film or sheet, such as poly(ethylene terephthalate). The design is preferably applied to the polyester film or sheet which may be pretreated to facilitate coating with the transferable design. The pretreatment may comprise a wettable resin coating such as a cross-linked copolymer of acrylic acid, methacrylic acid or their glycidyl or lower alkyl esters. 
     Transfer printing materials useful in the wet-transfer printing process are also disclosed and include a supporting film or sheet of a synthetic thermoplastics linear polyester such as a film of biaxially oriented heat set poly(ethylene) terephthalate, and a transferable printing layer of a textile-reactive dyestuff applied to one or both surfaces of the film or sheet.



